A motorist has recorded the terrifying moment a semi-trailer hurtled down a busy freeway with the driver losing control as the truck’s brakes failed.

The footage, obtained exclusively by 9News, shows the B-Double speeding down the South Eastern Freeway at Leawood, Adelaide around 8.30 this morning.

As the driver lost control, he was able to avoid other vehicles on the Freeway and managed to steer the B-Double into a gravel arrester bed to bring it to a halt.

The witness filming the moment can be heard saying:

“Get out of the way cars … go up the arrester bed...thank God for that.”

Police say the 26-year-old driver was issued with a fine for failing to use a low gear, as legally required by heavy vehicle drivers as they descend the Freeway towards Adelaide.

The laws, and gravel arrester bed, were put in place after a series of accidents involving brake failures on trucks making the steep descent.

In August 2014 two innocent motorists were killed and another two injured when an out-of-control tanker careered down the Freeway after its brakes failed.

Only weeks ago, tougher penalties were announced for drivers caught speeding on the dangerous stretch.

A gang of ‘fly- in fly- out' criminals is behind bars, after fleecing more than a million dollars in cash and jewellery from victims across Sydney.

The six Chilean men hunted in packs preying on the elderly in a highly sophisticated robbery syndicate.

Their 36 day stealing spree netted them loot worth $1.4 million.

The team worked in tandem distracting victims by puncturing their tyres.             

Victim Jim Haran said he withdrew $2000 out of the bank for a holiday.

"Next thing there's a tap on the window - and guy's telling me wife said we had a flat tyre,” he said.

"When you realise they punctured the tyres, I could have had a stab wound in my body somewhere arguing with them."

There were 18 victims right across Sydney.

One man was robbed of $25,000 after withdrawing it at Hurstville.

$7000 in cash was stolen from a man at Rose Bay.

$5000 was stolen from a Minto grandmother as she left the bank on her 77th birthday to pay for bathroom modifications to avoid having to move into a retirement village.

Meanwhile, jewellery importer Rene Colusso lost nearly half a million dollars in stock.

Mr Colusso and his wife were followed from a jewellery fair at Darling Harbour to a shopping centre at Fairfield. As they went in for groceries, the gang pounced - stealing suitcases from the car loaded with around 4000 pieces of jewellery."

Some syndicate members were caught trying to flee the country - after a tip-off from Canadian police.

Today they were slapped with jail sentences ranging from two to nearly four years non-parole, but with time served, some could be out within months.

Their visas will be cancelled.

Aussies hit with what they say are unfair fines are fighting back and demanding a fair go, claiming penalties are being handed out in the name of revenue-raising.

Rob McGregor received a letter from Fines Victoria several weeks ago, chasing up a $198 speeding ticket incurred by his son Craig, who passed away nearly two years ago.

"Fines have their place, but chasing deceased people, dead people for the money has absolutely no benefit at all," he told A Current Affair.

"It doesn't help anybody except the coffers."

Mr McGregor said when his wife Sharon had rung Fines Victoria to explain the situation, she was told she would face legal action if they didn't pay the fine.

But after Mr McGregor contacted radio station 3AW about the issue, he received another letter from Fines Victoria saying the penalty had been waived.

"They said it was an administrative error and shouldn't have happened, and I agree, it shouldn't happen," he said.

"As far as I'm concerned, it's just pure fundraising.

Sydney man Laurence Tempany agreed many fines seemed to be about revenue raising.

The tradie was slapped with a $420 ticket and stripped of three demerit points for having an unsecured parking cone in the back of his ute on his way home from work.

"I was a little bit annoyed to say the least, it certainly left a bad taste in my mouth," Mr Tempany said.

"I think the fine in this case was definitely not fair."

While Ben Judd just stopped to get a pie from the servo and ended up paying the price.

He said he left his car unlocked and his windows down, and a police officer told him it was illegal to leave his car unsecured and slugged him with a $112 fine.

"I was dumbfounded, because I honestly had no idea about the rule," he said.

"Ever since this happened, I've been warning everyone I know to wind up their windows and lock their doors so they don't cop the same mess I'm in."

Adam Cockayne, founder of world-first online legal service Fine Defence, said their success rate for contesting fines was about 80 per cent.

"Each of those matters should have been withdrawn by the organisation at the review stage, so that's where the problem is," he said.

"Organisations can become addicted to the revenue, and that influences their decisions which become illegal and improper."

Broadcaster Neil Mitchell agreed, saying fines should exist as a deterrent, not as a "revenue raiser".

A spokesperson for the Department of Justice and Community Safety said Fines Victoria apologised for any distress it caused the McGregors.

"Fines Victoria does not require payment of fines by Victorians who have passed away and we are investigating why these notices were issued to prevent it from happening again," the spokesperson said.

"If a family has paid the fine of a deceased loved one in error, their payment will be fully refunded."

Watch the full story on 9now here.

An Adelaide pair has been banned from delivering a South American jungle remedy amid fears the treatment can be dangerous.

The process involves using frog poison to heal participants.

Known as Kambo, it is a bizarre amazon ritual that has been practiced in suburban Adelaide.

The so-called ceremonies involve frog poison entering the body through burns on the skin.

It's described as a powerful natural medicine that assists healing and transformation. But after a death in New South Wales, the practice has attracted the attention of authorities who have imposed a ban on Christies Beach practitioners - Carlie J Angel and Brad T Williams.

The pair have been stopped from performing the ceremonies in South Australia and Victoria.

“Anything that produces nausea and vomiting. it has been linked to a death in New South Wales....my concern is about protecting the public,” Health Complaints Commissioner Dr Grant Davies said.

On the couple's business website Two Wolves - One body, they issued a statement saying: "Due to a very sad and unfortunate event associated with Kambo in NSW,  we have been served with an Interim Prohibition Order. The events in NSW were completely unrelated to us, and our hearts go out to everyone involved."

On their Facebook site late today they defended the practice saying it's safe when performed properly.

But South Australia's Health Complaints Commissioner remains concerned about the risks.

“We need to warn the public about it,” Dr Grant Davies said.

“There isn't any evidence to support this, it's not regulated by the TGA, there are some pretty serious side-affects.”

An investigation is currently underway and the interim ban prevents the pair from practicing Kumbo until at least June 26.

“We rely on people coming to us and if people have concerns about Kambo please make contact with us, we're very keen to hear from you,” Dr Davies said.

A Brisbane cafe manager has admitted she retrieved expired ham from a bin, however denies she ever intended to serve it to customers.

The manager at the Westfield Chermside Muffin Break store is at the centre of a growing scandal after staff contacted media, due to a text message she sent to workers.

"We have so many conversations about these expired products," it reads.

"...the price of shaved ham is $10.25... I took them out from the bin still trying to use it, but should I always doing this? is it right thing to do? Of coarse [sic] not!

"There are lots of stuff has been wasted like this way, However this shop really can't afford this waste anymore."

When confronted by 9News today the manager said she simply wanted to take a photo of the expired ham.

"Because I need to take a picture. That's the reason."

In the same text message sent to workers, the manager also warned she is prepared to give shifts to new workers.

"I have received a few good resumes.. if new girls are doing better than you, they are going to take over your shifts."

Muffin Break's parent company FoodCo has issued a statement confirming it is investing the incident.

"Muffin Break is committed to the highest standards of food safety and workplace health and safety, and we do not condone these alleged practices," a spokesperson said.

"We are still investigating the matter, however our initial findings indicate that the ham was not used in any products for sale.

"We will continue our investigations and take appropriate actions based on the final findings."

Theresa May and Angela Merkel have agreed on "the importance of ensuring Britain's orderly withdrawal from the European Union" as the UK Prime Minister makes a whistel-stop tour of her biggest EU neighbours.

May and the German Chancellor spoke for about 90 minutes in Berlin before the British Prime Minister set off for Paris to meet French President Emmanuel Macron.

She is in a race to win the backing of EU leaders for another delay to Brexit.

The UK wants the approval of all 27 EU leaders to postpone Britain's departure until June 30, and for the UK to be able to leave sooner if parliament manages to ratify an divorce deal.

While May's office said there was agreement with Merkel during their meeting, it didn't indicate the Chancellor's view on the best length for any extension.

If EU leaders refuse to grant an extension when they meet in Brussels on Wednesday, Britain faces a chaotic "no-deal" departure from the bloc on Friday.

Back at home, May's ministers are in crisis talks with the Labour Party to try to break the deadlock on Brexit, more than a week after the UK was originally supposed to have left the EU.

On the eve of an emergency EU summit in Brussels, chief EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said the bloc was ready to grand a delay, but that the duration "has got to be in line with the purpose of any such extension".

Barnier also told a news conference in Luxembourg that he hoped the cross-party talks in London would yield a compromise.

EU leaders, fatigued by the three-year Brexit crisis, have repeatedly refused to renegotiate the Withdrawal Agreement which May agreed in November, though on Tuesday there was speculation in London that Merkel might be open to doing just that.

"What I think would be fantastic is if Angela Merkel will try to support a proper UK Brexit by agreeing to reopen the Withdrawal Agreement," said Andrea Leadsom, the government's business manager in the lower house of parliament, the Commons.

Sterling rose half a per cent to $US1.3122 on speculation that Merkel could offer a five-year limit on the "backstop", the controversial Irish border arrangement, but then fell back.

Barnier said he had no information about such a plan, and a German government spokesman said the report was "without any foundation".

A Queensland man has pleaded guilty to the attempted abduction and assault of an 11-year-old girl.

John Stephen Watterson was in court today, where footage was shown of the terrifying moment the young girl was attacked while she was walking to a friend’s house.

In the dashcam footage from February, the victim is walking on the busy Lawnton Overpass, where a man is shown sprinting after her.

He appears to push the girl to the concrete and inappropriately touches her before running off.

After the attack, the young girl ran across the road where a good Samaritan stopped and helped her.

In court, it was revealed Watterson went to an Aldi supermarket immediately after the attack, hoping to be seen on the store’s CCTV so it would act as an alibi.

But a witness’s dashcam footage showed the 29-year-old's dark SUV in the Lawnton area before the attack and the precise moment he allegedly spotted his victim.

He is then seen turning around, following her in his car, then parking and launching his attack.

The young girl suffered grazing to her eye, forehead and knee before Watterson ran off.

He is currently in custody and will be sentenced in June.

It's time to call last drinks on 'influencers' using social media to sell cocktails, wine and champagne, VicHealth says.

Victoria's health promotion foundation looked into Australia's top 70 Instagram influencers and found almost three quarters featured alcoholic drinks in their posts, but only a quarter fully revealed they'd been paid to do so.

VicHealth Acting CEO Dr Lyn Roberts said the "underhanded" nature of the social media posts made it difficult for young people to know when they were being sold an ad.

"We also know that young people who like or follow alcohol brands on social media are twice as likely to drink at risky levels than those who don't," Dr Roberts said.

"For every advertising dollar spent, young people drink three per cent more alcohol."

The research found big alcohol companies were using social media as a key tool to promote their products as cool and glamorous to an impressionable audience.

And while there are no rules that stipulate influencers must disclose sponsorship deals, VicHealth says it's time for that to change.

VicHealth on Monday launched a Top Spin, a statewide competition encouraging young people to call out sneaky tactics used by the alcohol industry to influence them to drink.

Key findings of the research:

- A total of 73 per cent of top influencers featured alcoholic drinks in their Instagram accounts in the past year. But only 26 per cent featured a fully disclosed sponsored alcohol collaboration with a brand.

- Of the likely sponsored mentions (12 per cent), 61 per cent were disclosed and 39 per cent were undisclosed, meaning they did not feature a hashtag such as #sponsored #ad or #collab nor used the 'Paid partnership' option for brands on Instagram.

- Influencer attendance at events sponsored by alcohol brands and posts containing branded glasses/cups further blur lines of what's considered sponsored versus non-sponsored.

- Little consistency in disclosing paid collaborations. The 'paid partnership' Instagram feature was rarely used for alcohol collaborations. A number of different hashtags are used, for example: #collab, #ad, #spon, #partner, #sponsored.

- Some influencers don't disclose a paid collaboration but use the official campaign hashtags, which denote a paid partnership. Some posts had hallmarks of a collaboration with no clear disclosure.

- Alcohol brands prefer to partner with mega (100,000+ followers) and macro (10,000-100,000 followers) influencers to deliver an average of three posts for a sponsored campaign, usually in the form of the influencer posed with a bottle of the alcohol.

- Cocktails, wine and champagne are by far the most popular types of alcohol featured.

Justine Ruszczyk’s fiancé has broken down in court as he revealed the nightmare phone call he made to the Sydney woman’s father telling him his daughter had been shot dead.

Don Damond gave evidence this morning in the criminal trial against US police officer Mohamed Noor.

Noor is charged with shooting and killing Damond’s bride-to-be in July 2017 after she rang 911 to report what she believed was a sexual assault behind her home.

During opening arguments on the first day of the trial it was revealed Ruszczyk had made the call to Damond about a minute and a half before she was fatally shot by Noor.

The court has heard Ruszczyk’s final words to Damond that night were: “Okay, the police are here”.

Just one minute and 19 seconds after that call, Ruszczyk again spoke to Damond with the words “I’m dying” after she had been shot by Noor.

As part of his evidence, Damond told the court he had fallen in love with Ruszczyk the first time the pair met. He also shared with the court how he had proposed.

9News US correspondent Alexis Daish, who is covering the trial, said Damond also told the court he was in Las Vegas for a work trip when he received a call from police that Ruszczyk had been shot by a policeman.

“He broke down sobbing as Justine's father John when Don was having to tell John, her father back in Australia, that Justine had passed away,” Daish said.

She said the prosecutors plan to play the police body camera footage of Ruszczyk’s final moments tomorrow.

Earlier, Noor’s patrol partner Officer Matthew Harrity, who was with Noor at the time of the shooting, told the court Ruszczyk “came up on us”.

“She just came up out of nowhere on the side of the thing… we both got spooked. I had my gun out... I didn’t fire and then Noor pulled out and fired,” Harrity told the court.

During an awkward moment in court, Ruszczyk’s family were left looking at each other in shock and disbelief when the defence lawyer referred to Justine as Janine.

Daish said it is clear the crux of the case will be about a supposed thump on the back of the police car.

She said the defence will be arguing that a thud was felt on the back of the police car, with the officers believing they were in a “classic ambush scenario”.

“It is the next split second that this case is all about,” AP quotes Noor’s defence lawyer Peter Wold as telling the court.

Lawyers for Noor, who was fired after being charged in the case and has never talked to investigators about what happened, argue that he used reasonable force to defend himself and his partner from a perceived threat.

However, prosecutors said there is no evidence he faced a threat that justified deadly force. They also plan to discredit the suggestions a thud was made on the patrol car.

“They say that fingerprints were done… fingerprinting tests were done on the police car and there was no forensic evidence of Ms Ruszczyk having touched that police car,” Daish said.

Minnesota law allows police officers to use deadly force to protect themselves or their partners from death or great bodily harm. Prosecutors charged Noor with second-degree intentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.

The federal government will commit $70 million to various initiatives arising from the recommendations of a panel into the fish kills in the lower Darling River.

Two massive fish kills in December and January prompted the government to commission an independent assessment, with the final report released today.

“I think all Australians who saw footage of these fish deaths were deeply saddened," Agriculture and Water Resources Minister David Littleproud said in a statement.

“The federal government accepts and will address each recommendation made to it, and will work with states on others."

Mr Littleproud said his ministry will work with the states, in particular the NSW government, on the recommendations, adding the government strongly supports the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.

Mr Littleproud also said the government will invest $5 million towards cameras to live-stream river flows via the internet for public transparency.

The government will also expand research into water and environmental management, spend $10 million on restocking rivers and lakes with native fish and $25 million towards adequate metering in the northern basin.

“This is a $70 million-plus response which goes to research, connectivity and compliance,” Mr Littleproud said.

“We’ve listened to the scientists.”

The independent report attributed the mass deaths of fish in the lower Darling River to a sudden drop in air temperature and increase in wind after storms that led to lower oxygen levels in the water.

In addition to the initiatives to be put in place in that river, the Coalition will also fund other research and fishway construction projects around the Murray-Darling Basin.

The independent assessment was carried out by a panel of distinguished water scientists led by Professor Rob Vertessy.

With AAP.

The High Court of Australia has rejected a challenge against Victoria and Tasmania’s safe access zones for women looking to avoid harassment and intimidation outside reproductive health clinics.

The decision against the two anti-abortionists, who submitted the challenge to the court, upholds laws in both states that “promote the safety, dignity and privacy of women seeking reproductive healthcare”.

Lawyers and staff from the Human Rights Law Centre and Melbourne Fertility Control Clinic, who defended the laws in the High Court, today described them as “necessary to ensure women and staff can access abortion clinics free from harassment and abuse.”

"Since the safe zones came into effect, women and staff are no longer a target when they walk up to the clinic,” Dr Susie Allanson said in a statement.

“Women no longer carry the heavy burden of being publicly attacked for seeking medical care. This is a great result that enshrines respect for women’s choices.”

Safe access zones outside of clinics make it illegal for anti-abortion protesters to harass, film or intimidate people who visit them, within a 150-metre radius.

As part of the challenge, the High Court was tasked with determining whether the illegality of protests against abortions and any communication deemed distressing was constitutional.

The safe zones were introduced in Victoria in 2016 and Tasmania has had them in place since decriminalising abortion in 2013.

“We welcome today’s decision which has upheld a woman’s right to access her doctor free from fear, intimidation or harassment,” Jennifer Kanis, the principal Maurice Blackburn lawyer who represented the Clinic, said today.

“Safe access zone laws protect the privacy, safety and dignity of women seeking reproductive health care and we are pleased that this decision upholds the primacy of privacy and health outcomes for women.”

More to come.

Australia’s “disproportionate” drug driving laws should be overhauled as part of a proposal to legalise recreational cannabis use for adults in the ACT

Under a law proposed by Labor backbencher Michael Pettersson, residents would be legally allowed to carry up to 50 grams of cannabis and would be allowed cultivate up to four plants at their home -  the sale of the drug would remain illegal.

The inquiry has generated a lot of interest, with the ACT Law Society saying drug driving laws need to be amended ahead of changes.

“Penalties imposed for committing a drug driving offence are disproportionate because they do not account for levels of cannabis impairment and intoxication,” the authors of the submission wrote, highlighting police only test for the mere presence of the drug.

GOT A STORY?: mattdunn@nine.com.au

The society added if a person smoked days before being stopped by police and still had “a small amount of cannabis in their system” but were "otherwise unimpaired”, they would still be subject to the same penalty as repeat offender drink drivers caught with 0.08 blood alcohol levels.

“The higher penalties for committing a drug driving offence may be justifiable in circumstances where a person is impaired and/or intoxicated due to consuming a ‘hard drug’ but not when a person drives with a low-level of cannabis in their body,” the submission stated.

Speaking at a Legislative Assembly committee late last month, ACT Law Society committee chair Michael Kukulies-Smith raised further concerns over the laws.

"Clearly alcohol is freely available to adults in our community and can be freely consumed by adults in our community but we still quite rightly have drink drive legislation that regulates and punishes people for the degree of impairment that they actually have rather than they have just engaged in their lawful right to consume a single drink," Mr Kukulies-Smith said, reported Canberra Times.

"The same thing could happen with the cannabis legislation - that a person lawfully has a joint one evening, they may not be affected at all the next day however under our current drug drive laws almost certainly if they were pulled over would be detected and guilty of an offence that's punished as if it was the highest or harshest drink driving offence that we have in the territory."

The move comes as a Michigan commission tasked with studying the effects of cannabis on driving has given the recommendation that the state – where marijuana is legal for recreational use -  not impose limits on the amount of THC that can be present in drivers’ bodies.

After two years reviewing published scientific research and conducting roadside tests with the Michigan State Police, the Impaired Driving Safety Committee found THC levels are indicative of exposure, but “are not a reliable indicator of whether an individual is impaired”.

The report said one of the biggest reasons there's a “very poor correlation" between THC and driving impairment was the long time frame the drug stays in the system of the user, which means it can be detected long after any effects have passed.

It added heavy cannabis users can have higher THC levels than inexperienced users without showing signs of impairment, so a positive test might not a fair indication.

The committee also discovered in its research that stoned drivers were less dangerous than those who get behind the wheel after drinking.

“Interestingly, in most of the simulator and vehicle studies, cannabis-impaired subjects typically drive slower, keep greater following distances, and take fewer risks than when sober. These effects appear to suggest that the drivers are attempting to compensate for the subjective effects of using cannabis,” the report explained.

“This is contrasted with alcohol-impaired subjects, who typically drive faster, follow more closely, and take more risks than when sober.”

Continue the conversation with Matthew Dunn on Facebook and Twitter.

An Irish couple who have been living in Australia for almost 10 years are facing deportation because their son, who was born here, was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis.

Three-year-old Darragh Hyde has been deemed a health burden on the state of Victoria because of his condition, causing the Department of Home Affairs to reject his parents’ application for permanent residency.

Christine and Anthony Hyde moved from Dublin to Australia in 2009 and have been living in the small regional town of Seymour in rural Victoria for the best part of a decade.

Ms Hyde completed an education degree and masters in special education here and is now an acting assistant principal at a local primary school. Her husband works as a part-time bus driver.

Because of the critical need for trained teachers in regional areas, the couple easily met the criteria for a skilled visa and were invited to apply for permanent residency in 2015, Ms Hyde told nine.com.au.

Ms Hyde was pregnant with Darragh at the time.

“Through that whole time we thought we were healthy, and that we were carrying a healthy baby,” she said.

“It was only when Darragh was eight weeks old that through a heel prick test we got a call to say he’s got cystic fibrosis.

“We had no clue what that was.”

In a terrible twist of fate, the family also happened to be undergoing medical tests as part of their application for residency at that time.

In the same week Darragh was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis, their GP was required to send in a letter to the department detailing his condition of health.

“Had it been the week prior I wouldn’t even be having this conversation,” Ms Hyde said.

Initially, the couple didn’t realise the impact it would have on their application for residency, she said.

“We were so stupid, we didn’t even think this was going to be a problem. We were naïve about the whole thing,” Ms Hyde said.

But in October 2015, the Hyde family were told that their application had been rejected because Darragh’s cystic fibrosis could mean the need for a lung transplant in the future, which would cost the taxpayer.

The couple appealed the decision of the medical officer on the grounds that Darragh’s condition was not severe.

Ms Hyde said her son had been taking a new cystic fibrosis medication called Kalydeco, which had done wonders for his health, and was now available under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS).

“It’s made a huge difference. He has never had any hospital admissions and he doesn’t go to the doctors any more or less than any other three-year-old.

“We have been blessed in that way. He is just a normal, terrible three-year-old, who is full on, but that is ok.

“If you would look at him you wouldn’t even know that there is anything wrong with him.

“His condition has no effect on his cognitive ability,” she said, adding that there was no reason he could not live a full productive life with school, university and a career.

Two of his paediatricians wrote supporting letters saying he was very unlikely to need a lung transplant during his lifetime.

As a result, the medical officer downgraded Darragh’s condition to mild. However, Darragh was still deemed to be a burden of the taxpayer, this time because of the PBS-funded medication he was taking.

The Hyde family will head to the Administrative Review Tribunal on April 30 to appeal their case.

Ms Hyde said they had been told the tribunal did not have the power to overturn Darragh’s health assessment.

However, the couple are hoping the tribunal will put in a request for Immigration Minister David Coleman to use to his powers to intervene.

The family have also started an online petition, which has so far attracted more than 5400 signatures, calling on Mr Coleman to save them from deportation.

More than 100 friends, family, colleagues and even the local member for McEwan, Rob Mitchell, have all written the Hyde family letters of support.

“This is it for us. The minister is the only person who can help,” Ms Hyde said.

“We don’t want to go back to Ireland. There is nothing there for us.

“We just want to be here, this is our home and for that to be taken away because our son has a medical condition , which was unknown, it’s just heartbreaking. It’s not his fault.”

Nine.com.au has contacted Mr Coleman and Minister for Home Affairs Peter Dutton for comment on the Hyde family’s case.

A spokesperson for the Department of Home Affairs told nine.com.au in a statement that the department could not comment on individual cases.

“Most visas require applicants to meet the migration health requirement set out in Australian migration law. The health requirement is not condition-specific and the assessment is undertaken individually for each applicant based on their condition and level of severity,” the statement read.

“It is an objective assessment to determine whether the care of the individual during their stay in Australia would likely result in significant costs to the Australian community or prejudice the access of Australian citizens and permanent residents to services in short supply.

“For certain visas, primary criteria for the grant of the visa requires that all members of a family unit satisfy certain requirements. If one of the members of a family unit does not satisfy these requirements, then the primary applicant will not meet the criteria for the grant of the visa.”

Contact reporter Emily McPherson at emcpherson@nine.com.au.

A crane has collapsed onto a house in Melbourne’s west.

Police say the crane collapsed in Yarraville, falling on an unoccupied neighbouring house about 1pm, causing major structural damage.

Two men working on the construction site received minor injuries and were treated at the scene.

The Metropolitan Fire Brigade have confirmed that three trucks were called to a property at Schilds Street.

Police, along with about 20 fire fighters, are currently at the scene.

Firefighters and emergency responders at the scene are determining how to stand the crane back up.

"This is likely to be a protracted incident with emergency crews on scene for some time," an MFB spokesperson said.

WorkSafe has been notified. 

A father who lost his baby son to deadly meningococcal meningitis has blasted boxer Anthony Mundine’s anti-vaccination comments.

The man, known only as Greg, called Ben Fordham’s 2GB show this afternoon after it reported the sportsman’s social media posts today.

Mundine wrote on Facebook and Twitter: “Don’t vaccine your kids period! The government bully you into vaccine (SIC) Do your research on the s*** & watched the documentary vaxxed.”

Greg told Fordham Mundine should “stick to what he knows”, saying: “I don’t know as much about vaccinations as Anthony Mundine, but I lost my one-year-old son to meningococcal meningitis.

“My wife’s a nurse and my view is that any sensible adult, if they’re interested in the welfare of their children, ought to get their children vaccinated.

“It changes your life and I just think that people fear many things in life, and I think the fear of a pinprick is nothing compared with the fear of losing a child."

Earlier, Fordham interviewed Sydney University Child health expert Professor Robert Booy on the subject.

The professor said it was “a concern” that sportspeople and their partners were sharing their anti-vaxxer views.NRL WAGS Taylor Winterstein and Shannelle Cartwright have also recently posted on social media saying they wouldn’t be vaccination their children.

“I’d love to sit down with him for a couple of hours and go through all his questions and concerns, and really show that infections diseases are nasty to people, and you’ve got much more benefit and safety from being vaccinated, than not,” he told Fordham.

However he said he believed parents were listening to their GP and nurses.

Fordham also hit out at Mundine, telling him sharing his views is dangerous.

“Anthony if you did your research, you’d know that vaccines protect children from hepitius, influenza, measles, meningococcal, mumps, chickenpox - the list goes on and on,” he said.

“And I think the professor we just spoke to knows a little bit more about these things than you Anthony, even though you’re known as The Man.

“The Man should be paying attention to The Professor, and the doctor, and the researcher.

“It’s very dangerous, Anthony, when you use your public profile to speak BS about topics you know precious little about.

“Everyone’s got a right to have an opinion, as a parent.

“But when you use your profile to spread these messages, you’re really rolling the dice with other people’s lives, because you do have these professionals who have been to university for a long time and are convinced that vaccines and vaccinations save lives.

“So why would you think as a boxer, whose spent his time in a ring being belted in the head that you’d know more about this than them?”

Click HERE to listen to Ben Fordham live, or HERE for the Ben Fordham Highlights podcast. 

Parts of south-eastern Australia experienced their coldest morning this early in the year for more than a decade today.

A combination of cool air, clear skies and light winds allowed temperatures to drop seven to eight degrees below the monthly average in parts of South Australia, Victoria, NSW and the ACT on Wednesday morning.

While mornings start to get cooler in the nation's southeast every April, today's minimums were unusually low for this point in the month.

In NSW, Orange (-1.5C) had its coldest morning this early in the year for 36 years. Canberra (0.5C), Forbes (4C) and Campbelltown (7C) all had their coldest start, this early, in 11 years.

South of the border, Victoria's Longerenong (0.2C) registered its lowest April temperature in 10 years this morning. Bendigo and Nhill both reached 2.1C, which was their coldest start this early in the year for 17 and 13 years, respectively.

South Australia's Wudinna (1.9C) had its coldest morning this early in the year for at least 20 years, while Lameroo's 2.8C was it lowest temp this early in the year since 2006.

In addition to the prevailing weather patterns, the drought affecting large areas of south-eastern Australia is also likely to have played a hand in this morning's chilly weather.

Put simply, drier air helps cause lower minimum temperatures.

A simple test has revealed how easy it is to conceal hidden camera devices even in a family home.

The Barker family from New Zealand say they recently encountered the issue when they noticed a hidden camera at an Airbnb they rented while on holiday in Ireland.

The camera, concealed in a fake smoke detector, was live streaming all it captured.

Now, A Current Affair has enlisted the Taylor family and Donna Gooyash from Oz Spy Security Solutions to put some devices to the test.

Ms Gooyash and A Current Affair reporter Lauren Golman placed 11 hidden cameras inside the house, including in a clock, on a set of car keys, and even a pen.

When the Taylors return, they are told there have been some "changes" made and sent on a hunt.

But while they search, they're being watched via the cameras.

"We can follow them around the loungeroom with that turning camera, they go into the kitchen, we can follow them there," Ms Gooyash said.

Ultimately, the Taylors spot just five of the hidden cameras - illustrating the difficulty of spotting them in a well-known home, let alone an unfamiliar residence.

But the good news is, there's protection available, with devices that can detect camera lenses and notify the user of wifi activity.

"So if you find a device that's a bit unusual to have wifi, that'll pick it up," Ms Gooyash said.

Police have appealed for witnesses after a 21-year-old man was glassed after gatecrashing a Melbourne music festival.

The alleged victim accompanied by friends turned up uninvited at the Rancho Relaxo festival at Hastings on the Mornington Peninsula on Saturday when the group were asked to leave.

When the 21-year-old walked out with a bag containing bottles of beer he was accused of stealing.

His friends claim he was hit after handing over the bag to be searched.

The alleged victim will require surgery for a shattered jaw and teeth.

Jonathan Ewington, 36, has been charged with intentionally and recklessly causing serious injury.

Ewington maintains his innocence.

“There was no intention to hurt anyone. I was just interested in getting the bags that I thought they had stolen out of the tent,” he told 9News.

The New Zealand citizen handed himself into police yesterday but police are still interested in speaking to witnesses at the event.

Officers would particularly like to speak with two female staff members.

A Perth business owner says he's been forced to shut up shop after he was bashed by a gang of teenagers.

The man, who wanted to be known as "Glen", said the youths had been stealing from his Frozen Yoghurt store at Westfield Carousel for weeks.

"When I saw them this time, my instinct was to chase them," he said.

"Then I felt something hit the back of my head and realised I'd been ninja kicked.

"I hit my head on the ground, and I was flat on the floor but they kept punching and kicking me. "

The Perth father says he was struck several times in the face back and stomach, then the teens stole his wallet and spat on him.

The brutal attack left him with head injuries and internal bleeding.

"You're at the mercy of a group, it's not a nice feeling," he said.

"Now I'm always looking over my shoulder to see if somebody's going to attack me."

Glen said he's seeing a psychologist to deal with the trauma, and had to close his business for fear of retribution.

"I've lost my livelihood, that was my livelihood," he said.

"I just had to shut it down for the safety of my staff and my own safety."

He said Westfield Carousel management have now ordered him to pay for damages that were caused by a member of the gang, during the incident on January 17.

A spokesperson for the shopping centre was unable to comment.

Police are still investigating and have located one of the alleged offenders, but still want to speak to a male involved in the attack.

The incident follows a string of youth crime in recent months, with hot-spot suburbs including Cockburn, Maddington and Ellenbrook.

The spike has prompted prominent Perth lawyer John Hammond to call for tougher police outcomes.

"I don't think the juveniles are scared, I think they're treating it as a complete joke," he said.

"I think the time for warnings and infringement notices is over, there needs to be charges laid."

Victims and the loved ones of victims of crime are calling for an overhaul of the compensation system, saying offenders are better off than those they hurt.

Peter Simpson's nine-year-old daughter Ebony was abducted and murdered on her way home from school in August 1992.

Her killer, Andrew Garforth, is spending life behind bars, but Mr Simpson said he believed justice was yet to be served.

"As I said on the day of the sentencing, Ebony got the death sentence, and the Simpson family got the life sentence, and he got bed and breakfast," he told A Current Affair.

On top of the emotional trauma of losing a child, Mr Simpson faced heavy financial burdens, including loss of income and travel expenses during the court proceedings.

Through the NSW Victims of Crime Compensation Scheme, the family received a lump sum payment of $50,000.

He said equating the payment with the loss of his daughter was an "insult".

And under the current system, he said, it paid to be criminal.

"It costs the state a lot of money to keep those people in there," he said.

"Far, far, far more than they ever spend on compensation for people left behind after murder."

After Angelo Cusumano was murdered by thieves at the Gamesmen Computer Store in south-west Sydney in December 1995, his widow Mary also received a payment of $50,000.

"And a lot of people might think that's an awful lot of money, but when you've got four children, you've got a mortgage, you've got funeral costs, and you've got to get out of bed every day and think, 'What am I going to do, how am I going to get through this day' - it's not a lot," she said.

"That would be gone in the first year."

Victims of crime are entitled to different payments in each state and territory.

In Western Australia and Queensland, compensation is capped at $75,000.

In Victoria and South Australia, the maximum payout is $100,000.

That falls to $50,000 in NSW, the ACT and Tasmania, and $40,000 in the Northern Territory.

The dependents and relatives of murder victims are entitled to even less.

Peter Whitehead and Kylie Field were the victims of a random home invasion in Brisbane in 2016.

Peter has been unable to work since the attack and face mounting medical bills, but only received $3500 each in compensation.

"You feel, as a victim, like we didn't ask for this to happen," Ms Field said.

"And then we have to go through hurdles and hurdles and paperwork and phone calls and it's just, they treat you like you're not a victim, like we're the offenders."

Recently in South Australia, the family of Whyalla grandmother Dianne Rogan was awarded $450,000 from her killer's estate - almost 10 times what they received from the government fund.

Compensation lawyer Julie Wyatt said civil litigation carried risk, but legal representatives aimed to "manage" that risk.

"We make the enquiry as soon as possible in relation to the offender to see if they do hold any assets, for example, a house or other property," she said.

But it is not an option open to everybody.

Ms Cusumano said if she had no children she would have "exhausted" everything she had pursuing civil action.

"But I had to raise my children, that was my main focus," she said.

While Mr Simpson has called for a parliamentary inquiry into the issue to bring victims' stories out into the open.

"I'm not sure too many people really understand the depth of the problems we face," he said.